


Without a Trace

by shoozy



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Apex Games, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, DarkSparks, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Missing Persons, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, We’ll see how it goes - Freeform, might add extra ships into the mix
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26731894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoozy/pseuds/shoozy
Summary: After the disappearance of her bunkmate, Renee 'Wraith' Blasey, Natalie 'Wattson' Paquette slowly retreats from the spotlight as a longtime champion of the Apex Games. Despite her fellow crewmates' efforts, Natalie stays in her bunk for what seems like forever.One day, while sulking, a small item falls from Renee's top bunk: her Phase Shift technology. Old and dusty, the tech is nearly rendered a useless piece of plastic. With her long hours alone during Games, Natalie fixes the tech and begins her hunt for answers.
Relationships: Wattson | Natalie Paquette/Wraith | Renee Blasey
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	1. The Caged Bird Sings

Natalie can't remember the last time she saw those blue eyes. 

The pain has etched its own signature into her heart, hurting worse than anything she'd felt in, well, the years since she lost her dear Papa. 

Lying awake in the silence was dangerous. She remembers the feeling all too well - the instant numbness upon realizing that her closest friend, just like everyone else in her life, had vanished and there was nothing that she could do about it, as always. 

—

_"There is very little I can do, friend," Bloodhound spoke quietly to her then, a somber, sympathetic expression on their face. "Your troubled comrade was very great at covering her tracks and actions."_

_Natalie didn't say anything for a moment, tears filling her eyes. A million thoughts ran through her mind. Was it something she had done? Said? How was this possible when they were just laughing hours ago? What could she have done differ-_

_"I know the difficult position you are in," Bloodhound said softly, and Natalie's face shot up instantly._

_"You know nothing of how I feel today."_

_"Fighter..." They spoke back cautiously. "I do. I have lost every person I have ever opened my heart and mind to. Even I have lost my way, my Allfather, my faith. But you are young. You are mighty, and brave, and headstrong."_

_Natalie's furrowed brow stayed tight, tears finally spilling over her cheeks. Her lip trembled._

_"You, even without my training, can find her footsteps with more than your eyes."_

—

That was the first and last time since Renee's disappearance that Natalie had spoken to anyone. She remembers the faint knocking from Anita, Ajay, even Octavio; their soft pleas to come out, have some tea, brush her hair, anything. Still, she stays put. Weeks later, she stays put. Nobody comes to beg her anymore.

Sitting at Renee's desk, Natalie stares at the missing poster for her bunkmate. Renee's smile.. that rare grin, frozen in time, taunts Natalie daily; and yet, she can't look away. 

**HAVE YOU SEEN ME?  
RENEE BLASEY  
AGE: 32  
GENDER: FEMALE  
HEIGHT: 5'4/163CM  
H/E: BLK/BLU**

She holds the paper to her chest. The ink has started fading in the weeks since she took it off the bulletin board in their kitchen. The sobs come out slow at first, like a leak in the ceiling. After a few moments, the wails can be heard from the common room a few meters away.

—

Ajay shares a glance with Ramya. Nobody is joking around anymore like they used to. It looks as if they had all aged years. Renee was a quiet, troubled soul, but she was always helpful. Oftentimes bending the rules and using her technology to find parts Natalie needed in other dimensions, taking Elliott on trips to another reality where he has his family, even helping Loba find that piece of jewelry she always wanted but could not find. 

Renee helped them every day without realizing, and now that she needs them most, there is very little they can do. 

After a few moments, the quiet comes. Natalie's bunk shifts against the wall, and the group lets out a collective sigh. 

Muffled through the wall, they can hear her soft, broken singing. Alone, she sings a soft lullaby in French, bringing herself to sleep. 

"I am sick of this." Loba swallows thickly and stands, smoothing out her bottoms. She walks quietly toward Renee and Natalie's door. Slowly, against Ajay's hushed reprimands, she opens it, shutting the door behind herself. 

—

Loba sits gently on Natalie's bed, watching her sleep. Her typically hard expression falters once she gets a good grasp of Natalie's condition. She gently pushes the girl's blonde, overgrown bangs out from over her eyes, licking her thumb and wiping dried tears from her soft, scarred cheek. Her eyes flick open like she had never been asleep.

"Quoi- what are you doing?" Natalie's burning throat can only emit a groggy, painful noise, nothing like her usually peppy, singsong voice. 

"Sweet girl," Loba's voice, tough as always, speaks back. "Let me braid your hair. It is the least I can do."

Natalie stares into Loba's golden eyes, noting the soft gaze she held. "I do not need your pity, or your help-"

"Yes, you do, Natalie. It is okay to need help."

The blonde's brow furrows painfully. She watches as Loba grabs a comb from her pocket, as if she had been planning this. Hesitatingly, Natalie sits up. Loba makes no hesitation to pull the girl into her chest, allowing the girl to cry into her sweatshirt. She brushes Natalie's hair gently, working through the knots with easy hands, humming to her. 

After a moment, Loba speaks up. " _Natalia_.." 

The girl hums.

"You know that the Games pick up tomorrow."

"I do," she whispers.

Loba has the girl turn around, running her fingers through her hair. "I will not pressure you to come, but I want you to know that we will all be missing you. Please also know.." Loba's throat begins to scratch. She clears it, but she cannot hold back, a tear falling and melting into Natalie's golden locks. "We will be playing for her. We always will." Natalie sinks deeper into Loba's chest, feeling her breathing labor. The thief begins braiding her hair, her hands beginning to shake. "I know what it is like to grieve, and I will help you search for answers. Answers are what brought me here."

Natalie sighs. "I have had a lot of time to think about it," she says softly, staring forward at the wall. Nessie sits, smiling on her pillow. "Our only tracker cannot figure an answer, so I think for now, so long as I do not have answers to questions.."

Loba ties her hair, finishing her braid. She nods knowingly. "For now, you just need to grieve."

—

Ajay shoots her a questioning look when Loba exits the room, shutting the door silently. "She-"

"If you had just opened the door." Loba says quietly, her voice shaking, and rising just enough for Natalie to not hear. "If you had just forced your way in! Have none of you experienced loss?!" 

The group stays silent. Of course they have, they all have. They all lost a piece of them when Renee disappeared. They all sit there while Loba stands, wiping underneath her eyes and shaking her head. 

"She is just a girl. She has lost too much. Let's not lose her, too."

—

The next morning, Natalie awakes to the sound of her door opening again. She turns over in bed, meeting a fully uniformed Octavio. He must have gotten ready early for the Games. 

"Hey, _chica_. We're almost ready, I just wanted to give you a hug before we left."

In her tired, vulnerable state, Natalie sits up and opens her arms. Octavio slowly sits onto the bed and pulls her in, holding her close. 

"We will keep you both in our hearts today, _chiquita_. Please take care of yourself."

She whispers into his chest, sighing. "I will. Merci."

—

Once Natalie hears the door shut, she slowly makes her way out of her bedroom. She opens the fridge, grabbing a granola bar and some water. She sinks into the couch, grabbing the remote when she hears a clattering in her bedroom. 

Her head perks up. "Renee," she murmurs, springing up and running into the room. Her heart begins racing when she looks at the floor, kneeling down instantly to pick up the cylindrical piece of hard plastic and wiring. She throws it to the ground with a gasp, instantly beginning to sob. 

**PORTAL READY: 100%.**


	2. Perfect Match

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding Renee's old Phase Shift tech, Natalie spends some time examining it on her own. In the interim, Hammond introduces a new friend to the Games: Dr. Mary Somers, stage name Horizon, a scientist . Not knowing the severity of her situation, Dr. Somers tries to connect with the young scientist. Upon hearing some useful information, the pair may be a good match to find the information she needs in order to find Renee.

Natalie sits quietly in her bunk. Her eyes, filling quietly with tears, can't pull away from the heavy plastic. She lifts her hand to brush off the dust that had collected over the weeks. How could Renee have left without her tech? Does that mean she's still in this universe?

She hears shuffling outside her door and tenses up. Nobody should be here. They're all in the Arena, or they at least _should_ be. 

There's talking on the other side of her door. She thinks it may be from the kitchen.

"With the recent disappearance of Miss Blasey, we have an extra bunk for the time being. Your biggest obstacle may be Miss Paquette, her bunkmate." Natalie's breath catches and she covers her mouth. It's a Hammond rep. He's the one that broke the news to her.. she will never forget that voice. 

-

_Natalie awoke suddenly to the sound of dogs and jingling metal. She quickly fixed her glasses onto her face, pulling her body out of bed. "Renee, wake up. I think Hammond is here."_

_Getting no response, she huffed and climbed the ladder to Wraith's top bunk. "Can you please wake- oh." Renee wasn't in bed. She must have gotten up before her. Her voices must have warned her, Natalie imagines. She walked out of their shared bedroom, stretching and yawning. Octavio, Alexander and Bloodhound sat at the kitchen table. Natalie chuckled at the contrasting group, raising a brow. "What's going on here? Did Renee wake up early too?"_

_Natalie was met with silence. Bloodhound's gaze slowly met hers, a guilty, pained expression on their face._

_"Come and sit, girl." They motioned to the seat beside them, and Natalie cautiously sat. A man wearing a metallic suit walked to the counter._

_Natalie can't get the hard, unfazed face out of her mind. He broke the news to the girl, emotion making no appearance on his face. "Miss Renee Blasey was not detected coming home last night."_

_Natalie laughed and shook her head. "No, you're right. She was at a meeting with her managers. She was meant to come home late, she told me so."_

_"Natalie, she didn't come home. She hasn't been seen on any cameras since yesterday afternoon." The young scientist turned her head to meet Alexander's. His normally hard expression had changed to one of sadness. Alexander didn't care for Renee, but she made Natalie happy. To see her unhappy would be a travesty._

_In hushed tones, Ramya and Ajay talked in the common room, watching the exchange take place. While the Hammond rep broke the news to her, she became unrecognizable. Ajay's eyes filled with tears as the young girl quietly tried to reason with them._

_"This is heartbreaking." She whispered, shaking her head. "She loved that girl. And that girl loved her."_

_"Well she's not dead." Ramya retorted, looking to the medic. "Not as far as we know yet."_

_Ajay shook her head again. "Renee had a price on her head. The IMC may have been defeated, but they didn't all perish."_

_The pair looked on as Natalie began yelling, slamming on the table. As expected, the girl stormed into their bedroom, not to be seen again in weeks._

_-_

"Well, is she here?" A peppy Scottish voice pipes in, receiving a hum from the other voice. Natalie's brow furrows as she fights back more tears. The last thing she needs is a bunkmate, especially one that isn't Renee. 

"She could be sleeping. Our other members have reported that she never leaves the room." 

The pair continues talking. After a few moments, their heads turn at the sound of a door creaking open. Natalie stands in the doorway. Renee's tech sits in her hand, behind her back. There is no way he or Hammond can know about this. They surely would confiscate it. 

"You will not put anyone in this room. She is not.." The girl hiccups, her lip trembling. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and collects herself. "You are still investigating." 

"Miss Paquette, we are leaving tonight for Psamathe. While, yes, we still are looking for your friend-" 

"My _friend_ -" 

"-Miss Somers here needs a place to stay. I know it's hard, I do, but once we leave Talos it's going to be useless to have an open bed." 

Natalie stands, silent. She makes eye contact with Somers, or Summer, or whatever her name was, she doesn't care. The woman gazes back into her eyes, meeting her with an empathetic smile. Wattson shakes her head. She does not need the pity. Especially not from the bitch who arrived just to steal Renee's place. No, fuck that. 

"I will find Renee before any of you idiots think you've found a lead," she hisses, burning holes into his gaze. "You think this is a joke. You think she's troubled, that she ran away. _She does not do that_. Not without telling me. I was- I am- her-" 

The older woman steps toward the girl, holding out her hand with a pleading expression in her eyes. "Here," she speaks quietly, "I am a scientist, too. We can try this together, if that's what you'd like." 

Mary knows the feeling coursing through Natalie's veins right now. That hopeless, helpless feeling. She felt it when she learned her son was gone. She felt it upon realizing that her baby boy had learned what it was like to live without her. She felt the rage when she learned she could do nothing. Today, she turns that rage into empathy. 

___

Hours later, the front door opens. Laughter fills the walls of the dropship. Octavio lets out a whooping cheer, dropping his helmet on the coffee table in the common room. Ajay flicks his arm. 

"We're going to Olympus!" He exclaims, garnering a laugh from Ajay. "Goodness, it has been too long since I've seen color like there is at home." 

Everyone shuffles in through the door. Loba is the last to enter, her braids undone. Her curls cover her face to hide her running makeup. She pushes past the celebration and rushes straight into her room. Nobody hears the heartbroken wails through the loud conversation in the common room. 

In the other room, Natalie sat on her bunk again. Renee's tech hides under her pillow while Mary tries to talk to her. 

"I was a scientist," she started, "and I got stuck in a black hole trying to retrieve an element from it, due to a sabotage." 

Natalie nods, staring at the Nessie on her bed. 

"I was there for over 80 years, so way before your time. I decided, once I got home, that I would put my knowledge of black holes to use. So, here I am." 

Natalie looks at Mary, sighing softly, bored. She gestures where Dr. Somers sits. "That was Renee's desk." 

The older scientist rises, nodding understandingly. "I see. Well, if there is anything I can do for you.. please let me know," she murmurs, moving toward the door. She stops in front of Natalie, kneeling to meet her height on the bunk. "Miss Paquette, I am here for you. I will also have you know.." She reaches into her back pocket, pulling out her wallet. Next to a photo of her and a young boy sits another image of her in front of a large portal. "I have done a lot of research. I would love to help you." She leans in to whisper into Natalie's ear. "I am not here because I _like_ Hammond, see." 

Natalie's eyes widen, her eyes gluing to the photo. Mary shuts the wallet and walks out, shutting the door behind herself. Cheers can be heard outside in the common room at Mary's appearance.. but now, Natalie was occupied. 

She has a potential partner now. 

"Renee, I am coming for you. Hold tight, mon amour." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of a filler, but I just had to add Horizon and Olympus before the new season! I am so excited to continue with more lore! Sorry I haven't updated in a bit- work can be shoddy sometimes. I hope you like this!

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first work on here, so i hope you guys enjoy it!! i’d love to hear some feedback from you guys on what you’d like to see, any ships you have in mind, etc!! thanks for reading! <3


End file.
